Griffin, Temple Bar

Griffin

Sculptor: Charles Bell Birch

Architect: Sir Horace Jones

1880

Bronze

Temple Bar, London

The Griffin, against the Child's Bank building (rebuilt 1879, now The Old Bank of England pub). The monument stands in the middle of the road opposite Law Courts, where Fleet Street takes over from the Strand. It marks the place where Wren's Temple Bar used to stand, as the ceremonial entrance to the City of London from Westminster. The heraldic bronze griffin on the top (the city's unoffical emblem) is by Charles Birch, and the bronze free-standing statues of Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, facing the road on each side, are by Sir Joseph Boehm. Queen Victoria herself had suggested Boehm for the commission. Temple Bar, removed in 1878 because it obstructed the traffic (see accounts of the Duke of Wellington's funeral), has now been restored and re-erected in Paternoster Square by St Paul's.

Other views of the monument

  • Temple Bar Memorial from the Strand
  • Griffin

    • Photograph and text by Jacqueline Banerjee 2006

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